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Kaleida Health Construction Project Hits Major Milestone

Released: 2/21/2011

Despite state budget woes, a very difficult economy and the ever challenging winter weather, Kaleida Health and the University at Buffalo’s $291 million construction project is on time, on budget and now fifty percent complete.

The heart vascular institute and research complex that is being built is attached to Buffalo General Hospital and has been under construction since September 2009.

“Thanks to our dedicated employees and physicians, we have made substantial progress on integrating the two hospitals,” said James R. Kaskie, the president and CEO of Kaleida Health. “And thanks to the hard working men and women working on the construction project, we are halfway home to opening a new flagship medical center.”

With the continued growth and demand of Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital’s neurovascular and cardiac programs in an ever aging building, Kaleida Health has decided to shift the hospital’s premier services (stroke care, cardiac surgery, etc.) to the soon-to-be-completed facility next to Buffalo General Hospital.

The building will house five floors of Kaleida Health's $173 million merger of its cardiac, stroke and vascular programs, plus a new and expanded emergency department. It will also house five floors of UB's research and development facilities, including its $118 million Clinical and Translational Research Center (CTRC) and a UB Biosciences Incubator.

Among the many highlights of the project so far include the creation of a new transitional physician board that will oversee the facility, the first wave of a new nurse management team named, the integration of the internationally recognized Jacobs Institute in the University space, and the integration of the anesthesia groups from the respective hospitals.

“It's exciting to see the building progress so quickly and now we've reached that point where the real work begins on delivering the best vascular care anywhere,” said L. Nelson Hopkins, MD, chief of service for neurosurgery at Kaleida Health. Dr. Hopkins is the chair of the physician advisory board.

In November, the new emergency department (ED) will be the first portion of the building to open. The new ED, which is expected to accommodate over 60,000 visits a year, will be the largest in Western New York.

A branding study is currently being conducted to name the new building and the new medical campus.

Construction milestones include the construction crane being removed from the site, the full enclosure of the building, and the substantial completion of the new electrical substation and the chiller building addition.

Turner Construction is serving as the construction manager for the project.

When complete, the facility (including Buffalo General’s main bed tower) will house nearly 600 patient beds, 30 operating rooms, 17 interventional labs for cardiac, vascular and neurosurgical procedures, as well as four CT scanners and four MRIs